The 17-Year Itch: Why Cicadas Love Prime Numbers

The mystery of cicada reproduction is two-fold. Such strange timing and such large portions.
What would the bugs gain by having sex in large prime-number intervals — 13 or 17 years — and all at the same time, Stephen Jay Gould asks in his famous essay “Of Bamboos, Cicadas, and the Economy of Adam Smith.” He had a theory. It’s called predator satiation.